Coffee Grounds and Pepino

Pepino fertilized with coffee grounds

Coffee grounds are a safe and freely available natural product, and also serve well as a nitrogen based fertilizer for fruit and vegetable plants.

They certainly seem to be doing well for this Pepino Gold that is sitting in a pot on my front lawn. Inside the pot is a combination of coffee grounds, lawn clippings, blood and bone, and some seaweed extract.

This is not the type of fruit you come across everyday, and don’t think I have ever seen it for sale in a fruit and vegetable shop. This Pepino fruit shrub is also known as pepino dulce or pepino melon. The variety I have is a pepino gold, and this seems to be the most common one available in Australia.

The fruit has a melon type taste to it, the closest I found is to a cantaloupe. Although it is related to the eggplant, it does not taste like one.

And a June 2011 update, which is the middle of Winter in Australia. The container and coffee compost seem to be agreeing with this tropical fruit plant! Look at the health of it and the flowering, and there has already been plenty of cold, cold frosty nights.

If you are looking to increase your stock of fruit that you grow in your own backyard, consider the Pepino as a great option. It is also loves coffee grounds used as a fertilizer, and that is a good thing for you and the environment.+Shane Genziuk